All Gus'ed Up: Easy DIY Gate

My handsome and ever-so-handy husband, Gus, is
guest posting today! He's going to be telling you about a little "side"
project he did while working on our deck makeover. Enjoy!

Hey, everyone - Gus here!

We
have a pretty good-sized elevated deck that overlooks our fenced-in
backyard. When weather is nice, we like to sit outside and eat dinner or
just relax. Our dog, Riley, (who is a miniature Australian Shepherd)
also loves being out on the deck. However, he is meanvery
territorial and will run down off the deck to furiously chase and bark
at anything that comes close to our fence line (other dogs, kids, birds,
lawnmowers, etc.) As you can imagine, it is a bit difficult to relax
when Riley is acting a fool barking his head off.

Solution! – a quick do-it-yourself deck gate!

I
made the gate entirely from some leftover 2x2 balusters from my deck
restoration project (upcoming on the blog as soon as I finish staining
it).

I
measured the opening at the top of the deck steps and fashioned the
frame to fit in there - two balusters horizontal and two vertical,
attached to each other using wood screws. For spacing and reinforcement
reasons, I then added an extra vertical one at one end. Next, I evenly
spaced the balusters inside the frame (I used 5). Our local building
code requires that you have no more than 4 inches space between
balusters, so be sure to check your local code. Again, everything was
fastened together with wood screws.

Then I stained the gate to match the new stain on the deck.

Next,
I attached a small handle (to open the gate) on one side, and a couple
of spring hinges (after repainting them oil-rubbed bronze as instructed
by my lovely wife) on the other side (which was also attached to the
deck), so the gate will close by itself after it is opened. I used a
level on top of the gate to make sure it was straight.

Now,
when other dogs (or people) are out near the fence, Riley can be on the
deck with us and we don’t have to worry about him running into the yard
and barking. Problem solved!

It's
me now! Didn't he do a great job? Would you believe that he is
completely self-taught? My grandfather taught him a few little things
many years ago, but the majority of what Gus knows he has learned by
trial and error.

Check
out these before and after pictures - ignore the part of the deck that
isn't stained yet, we're still working on it!! I promise to get the
entire deck makeover on the blog before fall!

Gus swears the gate was really simple to make - and if he can do it, so can you!

We've lived here 6 years, and I've talked about getting a deck gate for 5.5 of those years. What little projects do you need to do that you keep putting off?